Ibuprofen 800

Motivation:

"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be,

and you help them to become what they are capable of being."

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Diary:

b: (no b) Dentist appointment early in the AM, so no breakfast. I had split a filling late one night last month, when I clenched down on my lower teeth. The dentist had time to fix the filling, and I was overwhelmed with novacane for most of the day. Nothing would stay in my mouth, so I skipped the project of eating anything.
s: protien bar
l: homemade chicken soup, xs, vitamins, swiss cheese
s: orange, hard boiled egg
d: some leftover chicken, slice of whole grain bread
s: turkey burger, slice of whole grain bread, diet soda
s: ibuprofen 800.
g: eliptical 1.98 miles, walk 1 mile, sauna

Notes:

My back is killing me, literally. I almost couldn't get out of the chair to walk upstairs to the bedroom. I am wishing the IB800 will kick in so I can sleep. Maybe tommorow this knot will be better. I think it has to do with the amount of weight it has to carry + increased activity = muscles aching. I need to get in shape.

Also, I sent off the following letter today, after last nights shopping fiasco:

=================

Dear Target Guest Services,

Let me first say that I have been very pleased with the people I have dealt with and spoken to, both in person at your store, and on the phone. All of the workers at Target have been very helpful, empathizing people. None of the people I have spoken with were mean or condesending to me about my situation. I was very well respected by your employees.

However, let me say that your policies and procedures are not customer friendly, and are starting to make me wonder if I will shop at Target stores in the future.

I received an e-gift certificate from my employer as a holiday present, but have come to find that it is unusable for my needs. I find the following policies to be very frustrating and unaccommodating:

1) You cannot use the gift certificate in a store. You must use it online. This is unaccomadating for me.

2) I cannot redeem my online gift certificate for a gift card to use in a store. I am not sure why this is not possible. You already have the money for the gift certificate, so why do you care how I use it?

3) You do not offer an in-store delivery of items to reduce on shipping cost. I would be glad to order the product online and pick it up in the store, but you do not offer this. I HAVE to pay for shipping, if I purchase online.

Becuase of this fact, it means that my gift certificate becomes less valuable, as it would be off-set by large shipping costs. I would save money to not use the certificate and just buy the item at the store, saving money on shipping.

One other policy I am not happy with - at the store, I had a Target gift card (birthday gift from family), a Visa gift card (a christmas gift from employer), and was planning on putting the rest on my personal bank debit card. The attendent at the store told me that they could not accept both my Visa gift card and my personal debit card on the same transaction. I would have to pay for the remaining amount with cash.

This policy is very odd, and it seems to me that you could allow the purchase to be broken up so that I can pay with my gift cards and the leftover amount could go on my personal card. (I can do this at other stores and restaurants.)


Due to the inability to pay with gift cards, my experience with Target has been very bad.
======================


We will see what happens.


There is a lot of movement going on with my peers regarding incentives, goals and rewards. I need to find a book that I think I let my brother-in-law read. It is called "Good to Great". There is a story in that book that deals with goals and dreams. I will try and find it and post it. I like it and it offers good motivation.


I have a little follow-up from yesterday's blog regarding being able to buckle my seat belt. It is a good timing discovery, becuase I read the following news item today:

Minnesota Senate passes bill to let cops pull over seat belt offenders
Associated Press
ST. PAUL - Law enforcement could pull over drivers for not wearing a seat belt, under a bill the Minnesota Senate has approved.
The Senate passed the bill this morning on a 46-to-20 vote. It would make not wearing a seat belt a primary offense, meaning police officers could pull over drivers if they aren't belted in.
Under current state law, you can only get a ticket for not wearing a seat belt if you're pulled over for some other offense. Supporters say making it a primary offense could save 40 to 60 lives a year in Minnesota.
Opponents say it's another example of intrusive government regulations into private decisions.
While the Senate gave the bill strong support, the chance that it will become law is unclear. The bill currently has no companion in the House of Representatives.



Finally today we need to talk about something that has been on my blog-to-do list for about 3 weeks. Let me introduce the subject today, and then discuss it further next week.


Rockport Fitness Test
The objective of this test is to monitor the development of the athlete's VO2 max. A person's VO2 max is mostly a natural ability and is different for almost every individual.
MAX VO2 functionally represents the maximum amount of oxygen that can be removed from circulating blood and used by the working tissues during a specified period. World class endurance athletes generally have high readings.

To undertake this test you will require:

• 400 meter track
• a stop watch
• an assistant
• choose a windless day to conduct the test
• record your weight
  

How to conduct the test:

• Walk one mile (1609 metres) as fast as possible
• Record the time to complete the one mile walk
• Immediately on finishing the walk record your heart rate (beats per minute)
  

Analysis of the result is by comparing it with the results of previous tests.

The formula used to calculate VO2 max is:
132.853 - (0.0769 × Weight) - (0.3877 × Age) + (6.315 × Gender) - (3.2649 × Time) - (0.1565 × Heart rate)

• Weight is in pounds (lbs)
• Gender Male = 1 and Female = 0
• Time is expressed in minutes and 100ths of minutes
• Heart rate is in beats/minute
• Age is in years

OR

Although precise measurements are done on a treadmill with equipment measuring oxygen uptake, you can estimate yours from a recent running race. The race distance should be between about one mile and a marathon (or about 1500 meters to 50 km). Distances outside this range will not give meaningful results, since performance is limited by factors other than VO2 MAX.
www.runnersweb.com/running/vo2.shtml

Based on this tool, I am at the following right now:

VO2 at this pace
23.98 ml/kg/min (94.7% of max)

VO2 MAX
25.31 ml/kg/min

This would be considered "Very Poor", and "Good" would be in the 41.0 - 44.9 range.


I am considering sending out an invitation to my friends and family for two things: 1) to read and enjoy this blog site, and 2) to mark October 7 on the calendar and join my in Northfield for the 5K race. I am flip-flopping on this issue, but I have time to decide how to deal with the subject.


Well, I am pretty tired, so I will leave it at there for now. We will discuss this VO2 Max thing again next week in more detail, if possible.

more later..

Chazz